Mining apparatus.



A. WASHBURNB.

MINING APPARATUS.

nrLIoATIoN FILED MNA. 1910.

Patented Aug. 23, 1910.

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A. WASHBURNE.

MINING APPARATUS.

APPLIUATION FILED JAN. 4. 1910.

Patented Aug. 23, 1910.

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AJAY WASI-IBURNE, OF FRUITVALE, CALIFORNIA.

MINING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed January 4, 1910.

Patented Aug. 23, 1910.

Serial No. 536,390.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, AJAY WASHBURNE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Fruitvale, in the county of Alameda and State of California,have invented new and useful Improvements in Mining Apparatus, of whichthe following is a specification.

The present invention relates to improved mining apparatus, andespecially to that class of apparatus used in connection with what areknown as glory holes. In mining of this character, there is formed atunnel and a track is laid therein, along which cars run by gravity whenloaded, and above the tunnel is a stope, down which the rocks fall andat the bottom of which they are directed through a trap door and chuteon to the car, thereby avoiding the necessity of shoveling the rock orore into the car. In practicing this method of mining, it notinfrequently happens that the rocks become jammed at the entrance to thetrap, either forming an arch or by a'rock being too large to passthrough the opening of the trap door. In such cases it has beennecessary for a man to pass into the stope and lay a charge of blastingpowder to dislodge or shatter the rock and enable it to again feedautomatically, an operation which is attended with considerable danger.

One object of the present invention is to provide means for eliminatingthis danger.`

A second object is to provide means for facilitating the loosening ofthe rocks when jammed.

A further object is to provide mechanism which will be convenient andeective in operation, especially in the cont-rol of the feed of the rockto the cars.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal verticalsection of a portion of a mine equipped with my invention; Fig. 2 is avertical cross section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a horizontalsection on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing, 1 indicates a tunnel in which is a track 2 forcars 3.

4 indicates a vertical stope into which the ore is discharged at higherlevels. On each side of the bottom of the stope there is provided, abovethe tunnel 1, an upper chamber 5, the stope itself terminating above thetunnel proper and on a level with said upper chambers 5. Said chambersare readily accessible from the tunnel by means of ladders a0. Thebottom of the stope, between each door swinging rom the top, as shown at11. Each door is made in two sections, the lower section 12 being(onsiderably deeper than the upper section 13, and hinged to it along ahorizontal axis, as shown at 111. Between the edges of the side walls 9is secured a cross bar 15, between which and the upper door section canbe inserted a block to close the upper section.

In ordinary use only the lower section swings upward to permit the rocksor ore to pass therethrough, but, should a rock arrive at said lowersection too great to pass therethrough, the wedging block may be removedand the upper section will also then be permitted to swing upward andthus enlarge the opening through the trap. Rigidly attached to the lowersection is an arm 17,

to the outer end of which is attached a counterweight 18. Saidcounterweight, operating on the free end of said arm, tends to maintainthe trap door closed, but, in operation, the rocks falling down thestope and guided to the trap opening impinge against said trap door andforce it open against the pressure of said counterweight, maintainingsaid trap door open so long as the rocks continue to fall therethrough.A pulley 19 is lever 26 pivoted as shown at 45 on the side of saidchamber. Adjacent to the free end of the lever 26, a post 27 is formedwith a vertical series of holes 29, each adapted to receive a pin 30 sothat said pin, when in any one of said holes, holds said lever down andthereby also holds the foot plate 22 in a raised position. When, bymeans of said lever 26 the foot plate is raised, so as to eX- tendsubstantially horizontally, then the flow of the rocks through the trapopening ceases. The bottom of the oor of each chamber 5 is formed withan opening 31 immediately above the car on the track, through whichopening the foot plate 22 can swing so as to guide the material on tothe car. Each chamber is of sufcient height that a space is left abovethe trap door in the wall 32 of each chamber neXt to the stope to permitof an opening 33 through which a man can pass into the stope to lay acharge of blasting powder to dislodge or break large pieces of rock.Each of said walls 32 between the chamber and the stope is set back fromthe wall 34 of the stope proper, a distance corresponding to the depthof the top of the trap door below the top of the chamber 5, according tothe lowest slope on which the rock can fall. Thus, if this be a slope of45 degrees, then said walls 32 will be set back from the walls 34, thesame distance that the tops of the trap door are from the chamber 5, sothat the material discharged from the slope proper flow out to justrea-ch the top of the trap doors.

In operation, an attendant standing in the chamber 5 nearest thedischarge end of the tunnel, controls the trap door so as to allow thematerial to flow to several cars in succession beneath the hole 3l inthe bottom of the chamber. He can control the flow by depressing thelever 26 and thereby raising the foot plate 22 to a horizontal position,preventing any further How of the material. Upon releasing the lever 26the pressure of the material will itself depress the foot to itsoriginal position, and the material recommences to flow. In case ofstoppage of flow by reason of the blocking or jamming of the materialbetween the two trap doors, the operator first closes the chute of thenearer chamber by raising the foot plate. He then has the car drawnfarther back so as to be immediately beneath the hole in the otherchamber. He then passes into the other chamber, and, by means of thelever 2G therein, opens the trap door in said chamber, which hasheretofore been maintained closed. 1t will generally happen that therelease of the material on the side next to the farther chamber willloosen the jam of the material adjacent to the first or nearer chamber,so that said material will again flow. He will then, duly rearrangingthe cars, open the nearer trap and permit the material to recommenceflowing therethrough. Should, however, it be found that the opening ofthe farther trap does not remove the jam, and it is necessary to do soby exploding a blast of giant-powder, this can now be done with muchmore safety than heretofore, as the operator can pass into the stopebetween the two chambers 5 by means of the doors at the tops of thewalls 34: dividing said stope from said chambers, at

which point there is no dangerl of being crushed by the pressure ofrocks therein.

1 claim zl. The combination of a vertical stope, a tunnel beneath thestope, two chambers above the tunnel one on each side olf the bottom ofthe stope, each having a hole in its bottom through which material canbe discharged on to a car in the tunnel, a chute leading from the bottomof the stope, through each chamber and hole into the tunnel, a trap doorfor each chute, and means for controlling said trap doors, substantiallyas described.

2. The combination of a tunnel, a stope above the tunnel, a chamberabove the tunnel adjacent to the bottom of the stope, and having a holein its bottom for discharging material therethrough into the tunnel, atrap door in the wall of the chamber next to the stope, said wall havingan opening into said stope above said trap door, and a door` for closingsaid opening, substantially as described.

3. The combination of a tunnel, a stope above the tunnel, a chamberabove the tunnel adjacent to the bottom of the stope, and having a holein its bottom for discharging material therethrough into the tunnel, atrap door in the wall of the chamber next to said stope, and formed ofupper and lower sections hinged together, substantially as described.

et. The combination of a tunnel, a stope above the tunnel, a. chamberabove the tunnel adjacent t-o the bottom of the stope, and having a holein its bottom for discharging material therethrough into the xtunnel, atrap door in the wall of the chamber next to said stope, an arm rigidlysecured to said trap door, and a counterbalance weight on the end ofsaid arm for maintaining said door closed, substantially as described.

5. rlhe combination of a tunnel, a stope above the tunnel, a chamberabove the tunnel adjacent to, the bottom of the stope, and having a holein its bottom for discharging material therethrough into the tunnel, atrap door in the wall of the chamber next to said stope, a foot platepivoted at the bottom of the chute, and means for raising said footplate to a position to arrest the flow of the material through thechute, substantially as described.

G. The combination of a tunnel, a stope above the tunnel, a chamberabove the tunnel adjacent to the bottom of the stope, and having a holein its bottom lfor discharging material therethrough into the tunnel, atrap door in the wall of the chamber next to said stope, a foot platepivoted at the bottom of the chute, a bail attached to said foot plate,a lever arranged at the side of the chamber, and a connection betweensaid lever and bail for raising the foot plate by through each chambermeans of said lever, substantially as described.

7. The combination of a vertical stope, a tunnel beneath the stope, twochambers above the tunnel one on each side of the bottom of the stope,each having a hole in its bottom through which material can bedischarged on to a car in the tunnel, a chute leading `from the bottomof the stope, and hole into the tunnel, a trap door for each chute, aridge at the bottom of the stope between two trap doors and having sidessloping respectively toward said trap doors, and

means for controlling said trap doors, subl5 AJ AY WASHBURNE.

Witnesses:

FRANCIS M. WRIGHT, D. B. RICHARDS.

